Vazhenkada Vijayan as Arjuna in Santanagopalam.
| Photograph Credit score: Suresh Malooty
Seven many years in the past when Vazhenkada Vijayan enrolled as a scholar at PSV Natyasangham, his father Vazhenkada Kunchu Nair turned his Kathakali guru. The coaching at Kottakkal, 40 km west of their village on the banks of the Thootha, went on for seven years. That was till Kunchu Nair received a proposal from Kalamandalam and shifted to central Kerala’s Cheruthuruthy along with his son and a handful of pupils. In 1963, Vijayan accomplished a decade of coaching within the dance-theatre beneath his father and different maestros akin to Ramankutty Nair and Padmanabhan Nair.
Vijayan additionally learnt the tough Kalluvazhi type of Kathakali. Later, he developed a eager curiosity within the theoretical side of Kathakali. In 1971, when he was appointed by Kalamandalam, he was already referred to as a succesful instructor.
Vijayan, who was always on a quest to know extra concerning the artwork kind, most popular being in classroom than on stage. Even after his retirement from Kalamandalam as Principal in 1996, he continued to information younger fans and senior performers.
Vazhenkada Vijayan.
| Photograph Credit score:
Suresh Malooty
Although Vijayan carried out often, his displays unveiled his all-round abilities in character portrayal. From virtuous paccha (protagonists) to smug kathi (anti-heroes), his stage appearances assured insights into the largely-unexplored internal emotions of, say, a dejected Pushkara (Nalacharitam) or lustful Keechaka.
Scholar V. Kaladharan says, “Vijayan was self-critical. Vijayan had particular concepts concerning the percussiveness of Kathakali. Since he knew the lyrics by-heart the encyclopedic Padmanabhan Nair used to get his doubts cleared from Vijayan.
Vazhenkada Vijayan taking part in an anti-hero in one in every of his Kathakali performances.
| Photograph Credit score:
Suresh Malooty
Vijayan’s college students bear in mind how he would educate them with persistence and affection. Ottapalam Ramakrishnan remembers an incident from his days as a scholar at Kalamandalam. “I used to be below-par in enacting a track. As an alternative of ridiculing me, the grasp performed particular lessons for me. Since grasp was usually punished throughout his coaching days, he didn’t wish to do this with us.”
Within the mid-Nineteen Nineties, when Vijayan turned the Principal of Kalamandalam, he continued to steer a easy life. “Through the weekends, he would stroll virtually three km alongside the river close to our dwelling to take a bus to Kalamandalam,” says poet Indira Balan, the grasp’s sister. “Travels gave him the time to assume.”
Like his father, Vijayan too acquired a number of awards and honours.
